Hey Look, Another Lawsuit Over the Contraception Mandate

A class-action lawsuit by more than 200 Catholic organizations has been filed against the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, bringing the total number of lawsuits filed against that provision of the law to approximately 89 bazillion.

A coalition of nearly 200 Catholic dioceses, agencies and businesses has asked a federal court in Oklahoma to block enforcement of a Department of Health and Human Services mandate that it says would force its members to violate their religious beliefs.

Under the banner of the recently formed Catholic Benefits Association, the entities contended in a class action lawsuit filed March 12 that the mandate’s requirement that they provide health insurance coverage for contraceptive drugs, abortifacients, surgical sterilizations and related counseling is contrary to the First Amendment’s free exercise, establishment and free speech clauses.

The mandate — under rules issued by HHS — requires nearly all employers to provide such coverage for their employees in their company health plan. It includes a narrow exemption for some religious employers that fit certain criteria.

The lawsuit said the regulations under the Affordable Care Act are discriminatory because some religious entities and ministries are exempt while others are not.

I’m beginning to think that in order to be confirmed in the Catholic Church these days you have to submit proof of having filed a lawsuit against the contraception mandate. I think there are more lawsuits filed against it than there are Christians in the United States.

I’m beginning to think that in order to be confirmed in the Catholic Church these days you have to submit proof of having filed a lawsuit against the contraception mandate.

Obviously. It’s in the catechism.

whheydt

OF course, the other way to solve the issue would be to mandate coverage by ALL employers, with no exceptions at all.

garnetstar

I believe I read somewhere, and I’m sorry that I can’t find it and so confirm it, that this contraceptive mandate was already the law, and has been for some time, in seven states. That those states required the Catholic church to include birth control insurance coverage for employees in their institutions that aren’t religious, such as hospitals. And that the church complied with no fuss. They paid the premiums, all the employees did was a copay.

If that’s the case, the church’s hypocrisy is not rising to a new high, because that is impossible, but is definitely maintaining at its astonishing level.

D. C. Sessions

garnetstar, Arizona is one of those States (going back more than ten years). I think that the doctrine of laches might apply.

I say they should be free to pay the extra costs for insurance companies to *not* provide contraception.

busterggi

Tell you what RCC – we’ll drop the contraception mandate after you mandate testing choir boys for STD’s passed on by priests.

thascius

@8-I forget the exact # but it was a lot more than 7, including many in the Bible belt. Also including Massachusetts where it was signed into law by none other than Mitt Romney. Apparently he was for the contraception mandate when it was part of Romneycare but against it once it became part of Obamacare.

steve84

If only they’d spend at least 1% of that effort on preventing child abuse

maddog1129

I think there are more lawsuits filed against it than there are Christians in the United States.

Well duh. Christians are individual human beings and lawsuits can be filed by corporations/ “persons”